


A Goddess' Gift

by rabid_plotbunny



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: AU, Gen, Mpreg, crack!fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-27 23:46:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17776502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rabid_plotbunny/pseuds/rabid_plotbunny
Summary: Maybe Genesis should have asked first...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter originally posted to IJ/LJ 12-18-2008

It was dark. Endless dark all around him, stretching on forever, yet at the same time it was bright. Glowing green threads of Lifestream energy ebbed and surged around his legs, his hips. And in the distance, near enough and yet impossibly far, She stood watching him. A vision of white and gold, her cloak fluttering in celestial winds that didn’t move a hair on his head, staring at him with endless eyes full of depthless wisdom set in a face that seemed far too young.

The Goddess.

She was there.

He didn’t really know how _he_ had come to be there, in that timeless place, but decided that just this once, he didn’t need to know. He was there, She was there, and that was all that mattered.

He took a step towards Her, then another. He didn’t know if he actually had to carry out the physical motions, rather suspected that he did not, but it was familiar and it _did_ move him closer. Unlike those dreams, nightmares, where the object you’re searching for only gets further away the closer to it you move, he found himself quickly closing the distance between them. His steps grew faster and faster without conscious urging until he was sprinting, almost running, and then he was there.

Standing before Her, dimly illuminated by Lifestream green and her own blinding white.

She looked at him and he found his voice drying up under Her gaze. Everything he had planned to say, his carefully scripted and rehearsed request, all of it fled his mind under the influence of those timeless eyes and he could barely manage to think at all. Yet despite that, he somehow managed to force out a few words. They had none of the poetic grace he was – had been – known for, certainly none of the epic grandeur of _Loveless,_ and came out as a humble plea instead of the request among equals he had intended, but he couldn’t help but be at least a little proud that he had managed to speak at all.

“I would like… Please… The ‘Gift of the Goddess’. Please.”

And just like that, Her almost-mesmerizing, icy aura was shattered. Her eyes grew just a little wider as She stared at him for a long moment, then She spoke. Her voice echoed in and around him, thrumming with power and the music of a thousand thousand lives. “…What?”

Feeling a little more like himself now that that initial silence was broken between them, he dared to reach out one beseeching hand. “The ‘Gift of the Goddess’. I would have it, please.”

She kept staring and he fought the urge to fidget like a little boy caught with both hands in the cookie jar. “My Gift?” She asked at last, voice tinged with the faintest hint of incredulous disbelief. “ _You_ want my Gift?”

“I do,” he answered. Then, as if thinking that She was asking because it had been phrased so informally, he quickly moved to amend his request. “Most gracious Goddess, I would be most honored and grateful if you would bestow your Gift upon me.”

“I… see,” She mused. She still seemed surprised and more than a little shocked, but nodded anyway. “Long ago I made a pledge,” She said. “I pledged that anyone who made it this far, who possessed the skill and the courage necessary to ask it of Me would be granted my Gift.” A short pause. “In the millennia that have passed since then, only a few people have managed that task.”

“So you will grant my request?” he asked with a growing smile, hope sparking in eyes that had seen none for far too long.

“I will,” She said. One pale arm rose, gestured for him to come closer. When he did, when he was close enough, She leaned over just a little and Her lips barely brushed the skin of his forehead, igniting a warm tingling that spread quickly throughout his body before settling into his gut with a sense of warm belonging. She straightened, Her hand moving to cup the side of his face, her eyes glowing with a warmth contrary to her projected image. “I have never had a man request my Gift before,” She said softly. “But since you have requested it, it is yours. May it bring much joy and happiness into your life, little dreamer.”

For the first time since he’d decided on the true meaning behind his favorite epic poem, for the first time since he’d written his version of the Lost Act, for the first time since he’d begun actively searching for the ‘Gift of the Goddess’, he started to wonder just _what_ it was that he had just requested, _what_ he had just been given. He’d always thought it was power; the power to protect those in need, the power to be a Hero. The power he'd need to grind that media-magnet Sephiroth into the dirt and prove that _he_ was the best. But now that he had it, he didn’t _feel_ any stronger. If that wasn’t it, just _what_ had he received…?

But he was given no time to ask. With the tiniest flick of Her hand, Her will, he was flung away, falling away into the depths of darkness and green, scattering into a million tiny specks only to come together with a hard _snap!_ back in the cavern under Banora. Feeling suddenly weak from the energy he had expended getting to Her, he felt himself collapse to the ground, heard Her statue shatter behind him. He felt drained, weak. He ached all over and his insides felt like someone had scooped them out, mixed them up, then crammed them back in with extras. He heard Zack coming closer but couldn’t so much as twitch in his defense. He wasn’t terribly worried though; the boy had been Angeal’s puppy and the bigger man’s sense of honor had been smeared all over him. Zack would never kill a defenseless man, even if that man had tried to kill him on more than one occasion and sent his clones to try drag the world down with him.

Satisfied that he would be safe with Zack, he let consciousness flee his tenuous grasp and fell in to the comforting darkness of true sleep for the first time in longer than he cared to remember.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter originally posted to IJ/LJ 01-10-2009

Zack looked up in surprise as the door of the little house slammed open with enough force that it stayed stuck in the wall, instinctively reaching for his sword to put five feet of gleaming metal between him and the source of the disturbance; in this case a certain redheaded ex-SOLDIER, who was looking even more out of control than he'd been when he'd been actively trying to drag both Shinra and the world down with him. He barely had time to register the sight, and none to react, before he found himself slammed up against the far wall, a red-gloved hand at his throat, feet a few inches above the floor, and the Buster Sword fallen from his hand much too far away to be of any help. Not that the huge blade was any good for close combat, but it would have made him _feel_ a bit better!

"You unbelievable _bastard!_ " Genesis hissed even as he tightened his grip slightly, his anger so obvious he was almost frothing. "You _unbelievable_ bastard! How could you do that to me! How _dare_ you do that to me! Is that what you call honor? Well? Is it!?"

"G-Genesis?" Zack somehow managed to croak, both hands reaching up to pry at that ever-tightening grip at his throat. "What're you talking about-?"

" _You_ , you... argh!" The wide palette of words that were usually at his command seemed to have fled his anger and the furious redhead found himself without words for one of the first times in his life. "You know I've been feeling a bit... off... lately."

Of course he had noticed. 

They had been living together in a small house on the outskirts of Mideel since their escape from the ruins of Banora almost two months before. The house was small; the downstairs one big open space that was mostly parlor, with a small kitchen-area off in one corner. The upstairs had three small bedrooms, each barely larger than the quarters given to new Thirds back at Shinra; that was to say, barely large enough to fit a small bed and wardrobe. Also upstairs was the tiny bathroom, the same size as the other rooms. Right then the third bedroom stood empty, since Cloud was staying at the clinic as they tried to deal with his Mako poisoning, but once they decided he was well enough that room would be his.

All of which was beside the point, that being that the house was quite small and it was kind of hard _not_ to notice when your only housemate dashes past your door to the bathroom every morning for the last week or so to be violently ill.

"Yeah, so?"

Enraged blue eyes promised a long, drawn-out death. "So I went down to the clinic this morning."

Now Zack _knew_ it was serious. He knew that Genesis loathed doctors in any form, and who could blame him? Even _he’d_ had more than enough of them and he’d only been a guinea pig for five years. He could only imagine how much worse it must be for Genesis, who’d had to put up with it his whole life. The mere fact that he'd felt bad enough to actually go to the clinic to get checked out spoke volumes. "And?"

" _And_ they found proof that _you_ are one despicable, unbelievable, outright _bastard!_ The only time you could have done it was in Banora after I spoke with the Goddess! So what do you have to say for yourself? Well? Explain to me how you could go on and on about _honor_ and yet do _this!_ "

"Do _what!?_ "

"I'm _pregnant!_ Pregnant! And the only time you could have done it was when I was _unconscious!_ So tell me, where's the _honor_ in _that!?_ "

"You're _what!?_ " Zack almost-yelped, eyes wide in shock. Then the rest of Genesis' rant sank in and he glared. "Hey, don't blame _me!_ I would never-! I mean, I guess you're cute enough, but-! While you were _unconscious?_ That's _sick!_ "

"It _had_ to be you! They said I'm about five or six weeks pregnant. That puts me under Banora, and the only person with me there was _you!_ "

"Well, it _wasn't_ me! Maybe their dates are off, because I didn't do it! I'm sorry, but people who are trying to kill me and my friends do _not_ turn me on!"

"Stop lying! It _had_ to be you! I was never with anyone else!"

"So what about before that-"

"I was never _with_ anyone!"

Zack had just opened his mouth to reply when what the other man was saying sunk in. Oh, that couldn't be right. "You... You've never... You're a _virgin?_ " Okay, that had sounded a lot smoother in his head, but even so.

Genesis glared, even as his cheeks pinked up in embarrassment. "Well, I _was_ before _someone_ decided to get me _pregnant_ while I was _unconscious!_ "

"Oh for-! I never touched you! Well, I touched you, but that was only in a completely platonic, have-to-carry-your-unconscious-body-away-from-there sort of touch! All clothes on at all times! There wasn't even any groping, for Gaia's sake, let alone anything more!"

"Then how did I end up pregnant!?"

"Hey, _you're_ the one who talked to a Goddess. Maybe you should ask _her!_ "

Blue eyes narrowed. "Don't talk about her that way!" he growled. "She was beautiful, and she gave me her Gift-" he stopped abruptly, eyes widening as realization set in. He was barely aware of Zack falling to the floor, coughing and rubbing his sore throat, as his hand seemed to abruptly lose the strength needed to keep him pinned. "...No. Her Gift. _This_ is her Gift? I thought it was power, strength!"

Zack might have been a bit distracted by his new ability to draw in full breaths, but he wasn't _that_ far out of it. "Wait," he said. "You got knocked up by a goddess? You, a _guy_ , got knocked up by a goddess, a _girl_ , and you're still a virgin? That's just messed up."

"Oh, shut up."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted to IJ/LJ 04-17-2009

"I hate my life"

"Mm-hmm."

"I hate Mideel."

"Mm-hmm."

"I hate this house."

"Mm-hmm."

A fierce glare. "I _really_ hate you."

"Mm-hmm," Zack said again. He held out a large bowl. "Popcorn?"

"I hate popcorn," Genesis sulked. A pause. "No, I don't. Give it here."

Zack passed over the bowl of popcorn and they settled back down on the couch to watch the movie that was playing on the house's little TV.

It had been several months since Genesis had found out he was pregnant. He had taken it as well as he could, which was to say, not at all. Not only was he a pregnant virgin male, he was a pregnant virgin male who had discovered one morning that he could no longer fit into his own pants, which had led to an unwanted shopping trip. So now he was an angry and depressed pregnant virgin male dressed in cutesy maternity wear, and to make things even _worse_ it was all in some shade of _pink_ , which was apparently very popular in Mideel just then and the only color they could find.

Now, some people might wonder why that would upset Genesis considering his usual color choices of red, red, off-red, red, and black. _He_ would answer with a glare and tell them that _red_ was a strong, virile, manly color. _Pink_ , on the other hand, was just _pink_ and reminded him of prepubescent girls, cute, and sparkles. _He_ was in no way to be associated with the word 'cute'.

Zack privately thought that the pout Genesis wore all the way home from the store, dressed in a shade somewhere between cotton-candy and bubblegum, could only be called cute. Wisely, he kept that little tidbit to himself. _He_ didn't want to wake up to find his entire wardrobe replaced with pink cuteness, after all, and Genesis was _just_ evil enough to do it, especially when one of his mood swings hit.

"I hate this movie."

"Mm-hmm."

*******

More time passed and the darkening of Genesis' mood seemed to correspond directly to the growth of his once hard-muscled belly. Pregnancy, it seemed, didn't suit him, and only made him angrier when he discovered that he could no longer stomach the scent of his beloved Banora Whites.

He had confined himself to the house and its grounds ever since he had begun to show; hadn't left them for months now, choosing to isolate himself rather than walk through Mideel in his obviously-pregnant state. The third time he had skipped going in to the clinic for his checkup, the doctors had started making house-calls. He didn't like that, either - one thing he _never_ wanted in his own house was a doctor - but put up with it anyway. He didn't have much of a choice if he wanted everything to go well.

Still, it made it onto the long list of "Things Genesis Hated."

At least after the first time they learned to warm up their tools first, and the new hole in the wall gave Zack an opportunity to put in a new window which was big enough to brighten the downstairs considerably.

Now, though. Now, Genesis was big enough that it was hard for him to get around, and so he stayed in bed a lot of the time. Every week Zack would make the trek down to Mideel's little library and bring home a stack of books for him. Genesis would have been content with his own well-loved and dog-eared copy of _Loveless_ , but every time he started reading it either aloud or to himself, the baby in his gut would give him a hard kick in the kidney or bladder and that was the end of that. So now he was stuck reading _other things._

The baby especially seemed to like a series of children's books about a rainbow Chocobo named Speckle.

Oh, how far the intellectual had fallen!

He was _so_ ready for the brat to come out! Out, so he could regain his previous perfect body, eat his damned dumbapples, and revel in _Loveless._

He couldn't _wait_ for it to come out!

Then one morning when he was almost halfway through reading how Speckle had defeated a cluster of Malboros with some string, cheese, and a bent nail, his first contraction hit.

For a long time the only thing he could think was _"I take it back! It can stay in there as long as it wants! Really!"_

"I _hate_ my _life!_ "


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted to IJ/LJ 02-03-2019

Zack was strolling through the Mideel Market, picking up a few necessities, when his PHS started ringing. Quickly juggling his purchases over to his off arm, he grabbed the phone with his right and flipped it open. "Hello?"

A stream of swearing erupted from the earpiece, then: "Do you know how long it took me to remember your number? Do you know how long it took to punch it in?" More swearing.

Zack pulled back the phone, double-checked the display. Yep, it was their home number. "Genesis? What-?"

"Why isn't it on speed dial, you-" 

"You told me not to!"

"And you didn't do it anyway?! Since when do you listen when I tell you something so-" A hitch in his breath, followed by more swearing.

Zack was impressed. He hadn't even _heard_ some of those curses before, and he'd heard some doozies. He was pretty sure the redhead had made some of them up on the spot. Creative!

" _Genesis._ Was there something you needed, or did you just miss me?"

"Who would miss you, you... Argh! Sonofa...!"

By that point, Zack had already turned and was making his way from the town center towards the outskirts and their small house. Genesis, while he did occasionally call to request things while Zack was at the Market, did not usually sound so frazzled. It was certainly the first time he'd heard him swear since the infamous pants-don't-fit episode. Even then, it had not been anywhere near than quantity or volume. And given his hugely expectant size and difficulty getting around, and the way that his always-volatile temper had gotten shorter in proportion to the expanding of his middle....

"Pretty sure today is _the_ day _\--goddamn sonofa... Ifrit's hairy balls on a plate!--_ get your worthless ass back here _NOW!_ "

Zack was already running.

*******

It was barely fifteen minutes later when Zack burst through the front door, barely managing to open it before half-tripping over the threshold and into their front room. He dumped his purchases on the floor near the door without care and he moved further in. "Genesis?" he called out.

"Here," came the strained-sounding voice from upstairs.

Zack stampeded up the stairs and found Genesis curled up as tightly as he could manage on his bed, the phone still clenched in his hand, through a scattering of little plastic bits on the bedspread belied its fate. His face was pale and tense, teeth clenched tightly enough a muscle in his jaw was spasming wildly. Glowing Mako eyes were squinched nearly shut and his other arm was wrapped tightly around his belly. "Shit, so this is happening? This is so happening. Shit! We have to get you to the clinic!"

"Brilliant observation, puppy," came the hissed reply from between clenched teeth.

"Can you move?"

"I'm pretty sure I could _punch you_ if I really tried!"

"Right."

Zack whipped out his phone again, hit the speed dial for the clinic. A quick conversation to warn them what was heading their way, then he snapped it shut again. He looked at Genesis, then moved.

"Zack?! What do you think you're-?! Put me down!"

Zack stampeded back downstairs, the swearing redhead bundled in a sheet in his arms. Knowing his aversion to being seen by the village's inhabitants, he'd wrapped him up in the bedspread like a caterpillar before picking him up. He pulled the sheet down to cover the other man's head and went out the still-open front door. A quick pause to yank it shut behind him, then he was running. 

"Don't you _dare_ drop me!"

*******

It took a long time.

A _long_ time.

It was maybe seven minutes shy of twenty-six hours after he'd carried him into the clinic before the decidedly pissed-off wail of something that _wasn't_ Genesis pierced the air and echoed down the hallway to the waiting room where Zack sat... well, waiting.

He bounced up out of his seat at the sound and immediately bounded over to the information desk. "Is that it? Is it? Well? Wellwellwell?"

The receptionist behind the desk looked at him wide-eyed. "I've been here the whole time, sir. I don't know. If it is, I'm sure someone will be by to inform you as soon as they can."

"Maybe I could just--"

"No, you are _still_ not allowed back there, sir," she said, with the tired air of someone who had been repeating the exact same phrase to the exact same guy since she had come on shift. "Not until someone comes out to get you."

"Aww!"

*******

By the time he was allowed in, Genesis had been mostly cleaned up, given a fresh gown, and moved to a private room down the hall from the delivery area. The baby had also been cleaned up and dressed in an incredibly tiny onesie and little knitted cap, in a pink matching the former First's own gown.

Genesis' hair hung limp around his face, the roots still sweat-dark, and there were dark smudges under his eyes. Those eyes were half-hooded with exhaustion, yet still shining as he held the tiny body to himself, cradling it with unaccustomed gentleness in one arm even as the other held a little bottle to the suckling lips. He glanced up briefly as Zack knocked quietly on the door, then let himself in, then turned his attention back the the gift in his arms.

"Oh wow," Zack said. "It's so small! I thought it would be bigger, considering how big you got, but" --he cut himself off as the redhead threw a deadly glare in his direction-- "ah, never mind! Haha! Er, so what is it? A girl?"

Genesis rolled his eyes briefly. _Idiot_. "Yes, a girl. Megami."

"Megami Rhapsodos," Zack said, trying it out. He grinned and reached out a finger to touch one tiny fist.. "I like it. Nice to meet you, Megami."

The little girl let loose the now-empty bottle, bright blue eyes moving curiously to the dark blur beside her. Her tiny fist opened, tiny perfect fingers clenching with surprising strength on the offered finger, and spit up.

Genesis smirked. "Good girl."

"Hey!"

**END**

 

**_Omake_ **

Genesis barely managed to hold back a growl and glared death at the doctor sitting across from him. Megami slept cradled against his chest in her sling after her three-month checkup. It had been his as well, the doctor insistant on making sure everything had healed properly after his ordeal. He'd mentioned the tiredness, the slight achiness, but he'd been sure it was just because Megami had yet to sleep more than three hours straight.

"You're absolutely certain?" he gritted out when it became obvious the doctor wasn't about to say anything else in the face of the Glare of Doom(tm).

"I ran it four times. I can say with absolute certainty that congratulations are definitely in order."

"But I didn't--!"

The doctor sighed. "Then you should have used some form of birth control. Honestly, what are they teaching young people these days...?"

"But I didn't--!"

The doctor was already fishing out a familiar bottle of rattling vitamins. He scribbled a note on a pad, then gave it and the bottle to the dismayed redhead. "You remember these, I'm sure," he said. He waited for the stunned nod, then continued. "I expect to see you regularly for your checkups. Set it up with the receptionist. And if this is indeed unplanned, you really need to have a discussion with your young man about using contraceptives in the future."

"B-but I... I've never--! He's not--!"

The doctor gave him a _look_ , one that said that he'd heard that _way_ too many times, from way too many surprised parents-to-be. "Megami is doing well, amazingly well, actually. Just take care of yourself, you know the drill. See you soon."

Then he left.

Genesis stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the open door after him, prenatal vitamins and note in hand, Megami drooling contentedly on his shirt. "But I _didn't--!_ "

**END**


End file.
